One Piece and the Social Media Calm Belt

Mixing actual subjects with geeky fandoms has worked out extremely well in the past. When trying to combine what we like with subjects, we like to learn about more. Today we will be examining social media practices and compare it to elements of One Piece.

What is One Piece?

One Piece is a manga and anime series about a Pirate, named Luffy, who is a genuinely nice guy, in pursuit of the big treasure called “One Piece“. Whoever find this treasure will become the King of the Pirates, so pretty much all pirates are after it and compete with each other.

Because that’s a tough competition Luffy quickly starts to assemble a crew and starts their cruise. On the other hand you have the Marines who are acting as police of the seas, trying to keep peace and order, because not all pirates are friendly.

The story started in 1997 and is still going on every week. There has been 80+ books and 750+ episodes of the show already and the fanbase is still growing. There are also some cool One Piece video games out there. This one for mobile phones doesn’t even cost anything.

What is the Grand Line?

The Grand Line is the large ocean that surrounds the world in One Piece on its equatorial line. Because of the currents and the winds on the Grand Line it is only possible for common ships to navigate the Grand Line in one direction on a predefined path, which cannot be changed once you entered a particular route. The Grand Line is surrounded by the Calm Belts.

What are the Calm Belts?

The Calm Belts are two areas located north and south of the Grand Line and are nearly impossible to pass through with nautical vehicles due to no sea currents being present and no winds blowing ever.

If a ship is caught in this area they are ultimately immobilized and will be targeted by giant sea created and most likely destroyed. Therefore ships need to stay on course on the Grand Line and avoid being caught in one of the Calm Belts.

How does this relate to Social Media?

A sea with nobody to help you, no wind blowing, no current pushing you on, and creatures looking to turn you into their Lunch? That is just like the half-hearted area of inactivity on social media platforms. Just like we explained in previous articles, if you are not active and reach out to others in social networks, nothing will turn around. Nobody will find you or your content and nobody can engage with you, because nobody knows that you exist.

If nobody is there to read your posts, you are likely to lose interest in social media very quickly. If something doesn’t prove useful or interesting to us, we quickly discard it commonly. You need to stay on the Grand Line of social media if you want to gain value from any social network.

There is only one way here and it goes forward. You have to be noisy, share what interests you, curate what you enjoy, rage about what upsets you. On the other hand you have to find people who also share their opinion just like you do. These people will be your crew and friends. This type of conversation might not be happening in real-time, but it yet asks for both telling and listening.

Who are you?

Whether you’re a Pirate, a Marine, or a common townsperson in social media, be yourself and be authentic. Sure go ahead and post links to news that are relevant for you and other professionals, but don’t forget people follow you (or are going to follow you), because of who you are.

They are also interested in a glimpse into your private life. A little photo snapshot, Vine video, or Periscope stream is always highly interesting to people, who are interested in you enough to follow you. It doesn’t always need to be business – and it should not.

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Hi there and thanks for reading my article! I’m Chris the founder of TechAcute. I write about technology news and share experiences from my life in the enterprise world. Drop by on Twitter and say ‘hi’ sometime. 😉